Past Featured Trip Reports

“Hhuuuuggggghh!!” I
groaned as I hoisted my pack onto my shoulders. The pack was larger than my
torso, and Joel estimated that it was somewhere around 70lbs. I could tell that
the 3,400 ft gain to our campsite was going to be a little tough with such a
heavy pack. Joel and I had come up to Lone Pine with ambitious plans – camp at
Meyson Lakes and the following day climb Mt LeConte, traverse to Corcoran, and
bag Mts Mallory & Irvine on our way back to camp.

Normally I don’t pack so heavily, but this trip involved a lot of unknowns,
and we brought enough gear to deal with every one that concerned us. Most of our
concerns were regarding the waterfall pitch. Every report on SP stated that its
class 3 rating was underrated, and someone on the site had mentioned that it
would probably be even worse with snow cover. I couldn’t tell from the photos
how hard it was, how high it was, or how exposed it was. In response, I decided
to bring a rope and a little bit of pro, in case we wanted to protect the pitch.
Since we had no idea how much it would be covered with snow and ice, Joel and I
also brought our ice tools in addition to our crampons, helmet, rope, pro etc.
and whatever gear we thought we’d need for two days of snow camping.

As a last
minute alternate to a Picket Range traverse due to a partner injury, I was able
to find another trip to tag along on and headed to the eastern North Cascades.
Along with being dry n' dusty n' hot, it was also buggy. What a perfect
quad-fecta of conditions ! But good company and nice scenery more than made up
for it. The flowers were incredible ! Lots of marmots were observed, whistling
as they scampered for their lairs amid the rocks. We also got some fine views of
some various fowl, more than a couple hummingbirds, and an attractive little
woodpecker eating bugs from a burned snag. all in all an A+.

I wanted to keep working on my
Utah Prominence Top 100, but I also wanted to catch Saturday’s crucial Game 2
matchup between the Bruins and the hated Habs. The problem was that the game was
at 1 PM Eastern time, which meant I needed to be in front of a TV by around 11
AM out west. Which meant that not only would I need a quick, short morning peak,
but the peak has to be close enough to a town with TV’s and whatnot. Indian
Peaks in the west desert was a short peak on my short list, but for that reason
(the long drive back to SLC from the peak) I was out.

In selecting an outfitter while
researching our trip to Tanzania we received several recommendations for either
the Western Breach or the Rongai routes. The argument was generally that these
routes were less crowded than Machame (or Marangu) and that you didn't have to
wake up at midnight for the summit day. One outfitter told us that the Western
Breach was only slightly harder than Machame. However, I stuck with Machame and
am happy for that decision. Coming down the Mweka trail we spoke with more than
a dozen people who did the Western Breach. They all said it was miserable. Our
guide told us that the rockfall danger was very high, and he didn't like leading
it. (Note that I wrote this paragraph before SP member kilimanjaro1 posted his
Western Breach route page, but I still offer the above).

Originally on this weekend, my son and I
were going to do a climb of Horseshoe Mountain in Colorado, but a big snowstorm
was forecasted.

We decided to go to Utah, but the weather forecast was iffy for slot canyons as
well. After some brainstorming we decided on Three Canyon, south of Green River.
It only had one rappel at the top and then a 5.6 exit at the end, with lots of
pretty canyon between that would be fairly low risk for flash floods.

Been
taking advantage of my 3 day weekends since they started, and lately been going
to Glen Canyon to enjoy them while the temps are reasonable. The colorful cliffs
north of Wahweap Bay have always piqued my interest so it was finally time to go
see what was back there. I wanted to wander the canyons and cliffs south of the
road leading out to Alstrom Point road, as well as a lower tributary of Warm
Creek. Stopping along the Croton road at the heads of the various canyons a week
prior I found they all start shallow, gradually cutting down thru sandstone to
come to impassable falls sooner or later. And some are more scenic than others.
But all are interesting and were absolutely worth the jaunts. One in particular
had the bottom fall out in spectacular fashion so I wanted to bring canyoning
gear to descend.

After my first Highpointing excursion in the Southern Appalachians
in the Spring, it became apparent that i wanted to hike all 48 state high
points, and maybe beyond. We had such a great time there, that we figured we
would give New England a shot before summer's end. Along with a hiking buddy,
Travis, we arranged flights from sunny FL to the northeast to briefly see our
families. After spending a couple days on Long Island, i took the ferry over to
lower CT to meet up with Travis, and begin our second highpointing mission. This
time, we had 7 states planned, including New York, and all of New England. From
our research, the Northeastern high points seemed to be harder than southeastern
Appalachia. Also, on Marcy, Washington, and Katahdin, we had planned on taking
difficult routes. 7 states over the next 8 days, with a bit of hiking also in
Acadia Natl Park at the end of the trip. Here are the details........

As is usual I planned my trip
with an overly ambitious peak list. With four days to cavort in the SW before a
bachelor party in Las Vegas, my preliminary plans involved Mt. Taylor Monday,
Pastora Peak Tuesday, Humphreys Wednesday, and Hualapai on Thursday. As my
departure date approached I noted that while snow was forecasted for Taylor on
Monday, Pastora Peak was bluebird clear. Already stretched for time, with a
little more than two days to drive from Boston to New Mexico, I now faced the
prospect of tacking on an extra 3 hours in order to hit Pastora Monday, then
returning to Taylor Tuesday. I raced across the country over the weekend and,
cruising through Eastern New Mexico on Sunday evening I was on pace to arrive in
Grants or Gallup at a reasonable time. Then it started to snow. Thick, furious,
white-out snow, winds blowing at my windshield 20-30 mph. I-40 soon became an
undriveable sheet of slush a foot deep, but yet it was 50 miles before the first
exit with accommodations: Moriarty, NM. Or so I thought.

Often times when heading out to
the mountains on a nice clear sunshiny day I don't expect things to go wrong.
But every now and then I get one of those trips where adventure finds me. This
was another round of exciting fun with bush whacking, getting lost in the dark,
sliding on slippery shrubs, and everyone's favorite! Sleeping out on a steep
slope. But hey, who said I wanted a tame adventure? Sometimes going through all
the troubles in the end become worth while, especially when you learn from
it.

The adventure started out as the usual bus ride to the city of Gold Bar to meet
my partner for the trip. On the way there the sunrise was looking quite
beautiful, especially the golden sun beams on Mount Zekes and the red colors I
saw on Mount Rainier. I was in for some stellar weather. In Gold Bar I met up
with my partner Scott to head out to the trailhead. "I'm the kind of guy who
isn't so much worried about where we are going, so long as were having an
adventure" Scott announced.

I’m finding that, more
often than not, things do not always go according to plan. Plans formulate,
chaos intervenes and then the plans change. This isn’t always a bad thing
though; sometimes I enjoy how things turn out differently than planned.

In short, here’s what the weekend turned into:
1. Friday, Car broke down in Cedar City, Utah. Got a rental car and made it to
Moab late Friday.
2. Saturday, summit 1 peak (Mount Tukuhnikivatz)
3. Sunday, Arch Madness (hiking to a ton of arches in Arches National Park)
4. Monday, Climbing at Pocket Rocks in Cedar City, Utah until car was fixed and
head home